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RFC 3261 - Session Initiation Protocol

SIP: Session Initiation Protocol

Authors:

  • J. Rosenberg (dynamicsoft)
  • H. Schulzrinne (Columbia U.)
  • G. Camarillo (Ericsson)
  • A. Johnston (WorldCom)
  • J. Peterson (Neustar)
  • R. Sparks (dynamicsoft)
  • M. Handley (ICIR)
  • E. Schooler (AT&T)

Publication Date: June 2002 Obsoletes: RFC 2543
Category: Standards Track


Status of this Memo

This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.


Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2002). All Rights Reserved.


Abstract

This document describes Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), an application-layer control (signaling) protocol for creating, modifying, and terminating sessions with one or more participants. These sessions include Internet telephone calls, multimedia distribution, and multimedia conferences.

SIP invitations used to create sessions carry session descriptions that allow participants to agree on a set of compatible media types. SIP makes use of elements called proxy servers to help route requests to the user's current location, authenticate and authorize users for services, implement provider call-routing policies, and provide features to users. SIP also provides a registration function that allows users to upload their current locations for use by proxy servers. SIP runs on top of several different transport protocols.


Table of Contents


Key Features

  • Session Management: Creating, modifying, and terminating multimedia sessions
  • User Location: Determining the end system to be used for communication
  • User Availability: Determining the willingness of the called party to engage in communications
  • User Capabilities: Determining the media and media parameters to be used
  • Session Setup: Establishing session parameters at both called and calling party


Note: RFC 3261 is a large document (approximately 250 pages). The translation is organized into manageable chapters.